So I've recently arrived in Miki, Hyogo (to live with my JET girlfriend) on a working-holiday visa.
I'm looking for work tutoring/teaching and sent an application to a company called ABCKara. Seemingly, they're one of those companies that set you up with students to tutor. Anyway, they responded quite quickly and want to have an interview with me. This requires that I travel to Osaka (~2 hours) however they said that I could likely work with students in Sannomiya which is closer. I'm not sure whether or not I should pursue this.

Does anyone have experience with this company or a similar one? Not sure if I should jump on this or be a bit more patient...

So I've recently arrived in Miki, Hyogo (to live with my JET girlfriend) on a working-holiday visa.
I'm looking for work tutoring/teaching and sent an application to a company called ABCKara. Seemingly, they're one of those companies that set you up with students to tutor. Anyway, they responded quite quickly and want to have an interview with me. This requires that I travel to Osaka (~2 hours) however they said that I could likely work with students in Sannomiya which is closer. I'm not sure whether or not I should pursue this.

Does anyone have experience with this company or a similar one? Not sure if I should jump on this or be a bit more patient...

Thanks.

Never heard of them, but I think you should still attend the interview and do your best. It's best to keep your options open, you know? If you cancel the interview and then spend the next month in a job hunting dry spell, you might be kicking yourself, wishing you'd pursued that lead.

I've managed to avoid that happening here in Japan, but it did happen to me in Taiwan. I turned down an interview offer with a kindy which I later wished I'd gone to, because I had a totally bleak dry spell after that during which almost nobody was calling or e-mailing back that lasted for about three weeks.

The beauty of Japan (something you won't find in Korea, and which is severely limited in Taiwan) is that you own your own visa. So if your employer is a sadistic nutcase from Hell, you can just quit and go work for somebody else, without needing to worry about whether your previous employer will "agree" with a "Letter of Release" or a "Cancel Contract Agreement." This makes it a lot less anxiety-inducing to work for an employer that you don't know much about.

So yeah, I say, "go and do the interview, do your best, and keep your options open."

I'm not sure what they are like in Kansai but I registered with them in Tokyo. They seemed a lot more professional than other agencies who find you private students and have written into your contract that you get paid for 'no shows' and that type of thing.

However, the first potential student they found for me was a salaryman who booked a Saturday morning trial lesson then cancelled just before the lesson. Their policy only covers payment for 'no shows' not last minute cancellations.

They rescheduled and he did it again. After the third cancellation, I said (very politely) that I didn't want to take him on as a student because he didn't seem to be committed to having lessons etc.

They tried to talk me into it, saying it was just a busy time of year for his business and I told them maybe he should wait until things got quieter before booking English lessons. They

After that, I got no more referrals from them.

They seem to play a lot bigger middleman role between you and your students which can be good obviously when it means you get paid, but not so good when in a situation where they are taking shit from the student and expect you to do the same.

kathrynoh, that sounds incredibly frustrating. I'm not exactly sure how these agencies work but I assume that this individual would keep paying the company as long as they said you were available to teach him? Even if he wasn't going to show up and pay you....

Rooster, I think you're right. I can't be waiting for that 'perfect' job to come up.

kathrynoh, that sounds incredibly frustrating. I'm not exactly sure how these agencies work but I assume that this individual would keep paying the company as long as they said you were available to teach him? Even if he wasn't going to show up and pay you....

Yeah, what kathrynoh is saying is definitely worth keeping in mind. My eikaiwa also has huge numbers of cancellations, many of which are last-minute. If the school has a crappy cancellation policy, that's something to beware of. Fortunately, my school has a great policy -- I get paid the same salary whether or not they cancel, and if they cancel, I get a free half hour to sit around and chill.

If I had to commute out to my students, and one cancelled right when I was just about at his/her house and I didn't get paid for any of that time, that would drive me up a wall. I would probably quit if this happened a lot (which, knowing the tendency of people to cancel at the last moment, it probably would).

ianmc26 wrote:

Rooster, I think you're right. I can't be waiting for that 'perfect' job to come up.

Yeah, that's true. However, what kathrynoh is saying is definitely worth keeping in mind. I still say that you should attend that job interview, but beware.

I'm not sure with ABCKara but most agencies charge the student for introducing you to them and then it's a private arrangement between you and the student. I think ABCKara might be different because they seem to have more involvement in the process after the trial lesson than other agencies.

I had an interview with them in Osaka. The interview was only about 10 minutes and I had to explain a simple grammar point to the Japanese interviewer. They e-mailed me later saying I had passed the interviewand they would look for students for me but after that I never heard from them again (this was 6 months ago). They seemed a decent enough company but other than the interview I have no direct dealings with them.